Description of Rooms for the Priests
1 And he brought me out to the outer courtyard to the north,Literally "to the way of the north" and he brought me to the chamber which was opposite the courtyard and which is opposite the building to the north. 2 As toOr "along the face of" the face of the length of the building with the doorway to the north, it was a hundred cubits,That is, 175 feet and itsOr "the" width was fifty cubits.That is, 87.5 feet3 Opposite the twenty cubits of the inner courtyard,Literally "which were to the courtyard the inner" and opposite the pavement that was to the outer courtyard was a gallery facingLiterally "toward in the face/front of" a gallery in the three stories. 4 And in front ofLiterally "to the face of" the chambers was a passageway ten cubitsThat is, 17.5 feet in width toward the inside, a walkway of one cubit,One cubit of 18–21 inches is problematic; LXX and Syriac read 100 cubits (175 feet) running the length of the building and their doorways were to the north. 5 And the upper chambers narrowed, for the galleries took away space from them more than they took from the lower levels and more than they took from the middle level in the building. 6 For theyOr "there" were three stories and they had no pillarsLiterally "there were not for them pillars" likeOr "as" the pillars ofOr "for" the courtyards; therefore they were smaller than the lower stories and than the middle stories from the ground up. 7 And there was a wall that was to the outside alongsideLiterally "to the outside to corresponding" the chambers on the walkway toOr "of" the outer courtyardThat is, "to the north" in front ofLiterally "to in face of" the chambers; its length was fiftyThat is, 87.5 feet cubits.Hebrew "cubit"8 ForOr "while" the length of the chambers which were to the outer courtyard was fiftyHebrew "cubit" cubits,That is, 87.5 feet and look!Or "yet!" The chambers on the front of the temple were a hundredHebrew "cubit" cubits.That is, 175 feet9 And from under these chambers was the entranceReading the Ketiv from the east for them when one entersLiterally "at/in his/its coming" from the outer courtyard.
10 All along the width of the wall of the courtyard eastwardLiterally "on the way of the east" in front of the courtyard to the front of the building were chambers. 11 And a walkway was before themLiterally "was to the face of them" like the appearance of the chambers which were on the north,Literally "were on the way of the north" just like them in their length, and so was their width and all their exits, and they were built like their arrangements and like their doorways, 12 and like the doorways of the chambers which were on the way of the south was a doorway at the head of the wayDropping one "way" before the stone wall, projectingOr "protecting wall" onOr "toward" the way of the east at their coming.That is, when people entered the complex
13 And he said to me, "The chambers of the north and the chambers of the south which are beforeLiterally "to the front of" the courtyard, they are the holy chambersLiterally "are the chambers of the holiness" in which the priests, who are near to Yahweh, will eat the most holy objects.Literally "holy objects of the holy objects" There they shall put the most holy objects,Literally "holy objects of the holy objects" and the grain offering and the sin offering and the guilt offering, for the place is holy. 14 When the priests enter,Literally "at coming their" then they shall not go out from the sanctuary to the outer courtyard; and there they must putOr "deposit/leave/remove" their garments in which they serve because they are holy. They must put on other garments and then they may approach the area that is for the people.
15 And he completed the measurements of the inner temple, and he brought me to the walkway of the gate that faces toward the eastLiterally "which its face is to the way of the east" and he measured it all the way around.Literally "all around, all around"16 He measured the east side with the reedOr "rod" forLiterally "of measuring" measuring, five hundred cubits,Hebrew has "reeds" here (= 5,250 feet), which is not correct; 500 cubits = 875 feet. with respect to reeds with the reed for measurement, he measured it all around. 17 He measured the north side as five hundred cubits, with respect to reeds with the reed for measurement all around. 18 Then he measured the south side as five hundred cubits, with respect to reeds with the reed for measurement. 19 He went around the west sideOr "side toward/to the sea" and he measured five hundred cubits, with respect to reeds with the reed for measurement. 20 Toward the four sidesLiterally "toward the four winds" he measured it; there was a wall for it all the way around.Literally "all around, all around" Its length was five hundred cubitsThat is, 875 feet and its width was five hundred cubits, in order to make a separation between what is holy and what is common.